French clubs are attracting more and more foreign investors

This is a turning point for French football: the emblematic president of Olympique Lyonnais, Jean-Michel Aulas, ceded the reins of the club to John Textor on Monday May 8. The American, owner of Eagle Football, officially bought OL this winter, it is also the last French Ligue 1 club to be transferred under a foreign flag. Now, ten Ligue 1 clubs, or one out of two, are owned by foreign owners. In Ligue 2 this is also the case for Sochaux, Caen and Bordeaux. Redemptions more or less successful, as for the Girondins, descended in Ligue 2, or AS Nancy, which is now fighting for its maintenance in National.

The phenomenon began in 2011 with the takeover of PSG by the Qatari investment fund QSI. Then follow Monaco with the Russian Dimitri Rybolovlev and Marseille then more recently, Nice or Toulouse. The hypothesis of a takeover of Saint-Etienne by a foreign promoter is also regularly mentioned. And in recent weeks, it is the name of the Valenciennes club that has been circulating a lot.

A good price-performance ratio

But then, why do these foreign investors choose France? “They are fairly inexpensive and they are in fairly good financial health. They have little debt, answers sports economist Christophe Lepetit. Investors therefore say to themselves that they will be able to make some interesting purchase-resale transactions. The idea of ​​these promoters is to realize a capital gain but for the moment it is not very conclusive. “

“Today, there has been no real return on investment except perhaps at PSG since Qatar has nevertheless implemented and validated a particularly interesting sports diplomacy strategy.”

Christophe Lepetit, sports economist

at franceinfo

Sport is anything but an exact science and the vagaries of matches can rock a season as well as the financial results. “At the Girondins de Bordeaux, the sporting hazards were on the verge of being catastrophic… The club could have simply disappeared last summer. These are things that are not necessarily controllable and mastered.” To limit the risks, some investment funds are buying up several clubs in Europe. This is the case of Redbird, owner of Toulouse and AC Milan in Italy or City Football Group, at the head of eleven clubs including Troyes, Melbourne and Manchester City.